RAIL TRAIL and STEAM PARK 

A second request was submitted to S A Parliament yesterday and call once again for your continued and urgent support.  Please pass this on freely. 

No matter how logically or legally correct we make the case for the 25-year concession made by Transnet for steam enthusiasts to revive the train to be reviewed in favour of a Rail Trail and Steam Park, overwhelming public support is needed for Government to correct the situation.

 

Logically

There three basic overland routes between George and Knysna:

• Firstly the inland twisting, hilly, unsurfaced Six Passes oxwagon route
• Secondly, the independent, winding Old Steam Train corridor, now a PPW
• Thirdly, the very popular N2 for high-speed motorised vehicles - recently upgraded for motorised vehicles with no attempt to accommodate cyclists 

The Old Steam Train route, as a PPW is ideally suited to become a spectacularly attractive Rail Trail, local and visiting walkers, runners and cyclists of all ages. Each will derive tangible daily benefits of physical activity, freed of the considerable dangers and inconvenience of sharing high-speed roads for motorised vehicles, and thoroughly enjoy the ‘Old Steam Train’ route that connects  towns and settlements between George and Knysna.

We know that this activity creates a variety of permanent business and job opportunities, and can see that it could soon extend to Plettenberg Bay, and bring these benefits to those along the 350 km route when it ultimately connects George with Gqeberha. 

The public has a definite need for, and a right to, these important benefits.

However, awarding the PPW to the steam consortium prohibits public access to the rail reserve. The public will forfeit its rights for the next quarter century. The losses for the region and the country will be considerable.

 

Legally

Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) only wanted bids to revive the steam train, with no interest in alternative uses, giving the impression that TFR ‘owns’ the strip of land. 

TFR regarded the old branch rail as unprofitable when it was decommissioned in 2010; and suspect that finding a consortium of steam enthusiasts willing to invest in reviving it was attractive a means of TFR’s retaining control. After three years negotiations we suspect (although details of the concession are not public) that TFR will argue that the die is cast. 

There is still time to correct the situation. Here’s why:

This unique strip of land is no longer designated as a rail reserve. Since 2010 the legal status of this unique and valuable continuous strip of land has been altered. It is now a Proclaimed Permanent Public Way ( PPW), granting the public permanent access for mobility in perpetuity! It is public land intended for public mobility.

 

It is therefore asserted that TFR had lost its right to unilaterally decide the use of this precious PPW that will deny the public access to it for the next quarter century. Accordingly, the General Assembly has been requested to review TFR’s concession award, to assess the best possible public use of the PPW and to rule accordingly.

The situation can be corrected and substantially improved now. We’ve lived with regrets for twenty years. Inaction means living with regrets for a further twenty-five years!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Win / Win Solution

 

An independent Historical Steam Park, in view of the Rail Trail and N2, is again proposed as a viable project. It would provide readily available access to close-up inspection of the loco and coaches, frequent short rides, a restaurant and shop with steam-era books and memorabilia, a booking service for steam train excursions as well as ‘pomptrollies’ and rail-adapted bicycles to hire when the Steam train is inactive.    

Only the Rail Trail option can provide benefits the public require as well as accommodate the historical Steam Train. 

When the demand for a commuter rail service between Plettenberg Bay and George warrants it, a new high-speed rail alignment will be required.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amager Bakke, also known as Amager Slope or Copenhill, is a combined heat and power waste-to-energy plant and a 85 m tall recreational facility in Amager, Copenhagen, Denmark, located prominently within view of the city's downtown.Wikipedia. 

It is inexcusable that the old branch railway to Knysna from George has been out of action for twenty years, depriving the region and the country of its incredible potential benefits. 

The threat is that investors will be given a 25-year concession to see if they can make a profit out of a branch line that has little to offer and had been uneconomic when it last operated twenty years ago. Speculation has it that the revival of the rail service is delayed while venture capital is sought.

The key to breaking the deadlock is the disposal of domestic waste generated in Plettenberg Bay and Knysna. Turn the key one way and the railway will be funded on a contract to transport tons of waste 160 kilometres, or more, to a dump site beyond Mossel Bay, possibly using inefficient coal-burning steam locos, and return empty. 

Turn the key the other way and the money wasted on the short-term high-cost, low-jobs, polluting solution is invested in a sustainable ecological solution: Dealing with waste at source. I’m excited to report that Plettenberg Bay’s Bitou Municipality is already onto this!

Bitou has made land available for recycling plastic waste. The machinery required for this requires considerable electrical energy for which an estimate of cost has been made. This is the tipping point where that capital, together with the capital consumed in transporting waste, is combined in a project that mimics the clean energy plant in Copenhagen. 

The real bonus is that the rail reserve - now a proclaimed permanent public way - is opened to the public as an NMT mobility corridor, or Rail Trail!

That wonderfully scenic old rail reserve belongs to us and is hugely valuable. These unique attributes give it the potential to be South Africa's finest example of a Rail Trail conversion. Once lost, it would be impossible to reestablish.

TOURISM, NATURE, MOBILITY, PERSONAL HEALTH AND JOBS

The region is an established ecotourism destination, attracting outdoors people wanting to savour that experience by walking, jogging and cycling. At present they take to the hills; but this remarkable facility could be close to home, free, available all day every day and as such hold sustainable tangible benefits for hundreds of thousands of people.

South Africa MUST act decisively now to avoid the looming climate catastrophe. Our roads, designed and built for, and dominated by, fast-moving large motorised vehicles, are unpleasant and highly dangerous for pedestrians, young and elderly cyclists. 

It is not necessary to compel motorists to get an e-bike.

We have proved that cyclists will flock to paths made for cycling that are car-safe, attractive, convenient, continuous and practical (they access places you want to visit). This route links the centre of George with the centre of Knysna 67 kilometres away and every settlement along the way. It can easily envisaged to continue to Plettenberg Bay and on to Gqeberha 300 kilometres further to extend the variety of benefits. 

The Rail Trail should be a memorial to the old steam train, retaining artefacts for the ambiance. Funding for the conversion will be covered by the sale of unwanted rails and sleepers.  

Cape Town has proved that promoting cycling is hugely beneficial. The annual Cape Town Cycle Tour is the City’s top performing tourist attraction. It sustains economically viable enterprises and raises funds for social benefit organisations. The city has recently adopted an NUMT policy that gives preference to pedestrians and cyclists.

Imagine if our ministers for the Environment, Health, Economy, Tourism, Mobility, Infrastructure and Ubuntu spoke up to support the conversion and that President Ramaphosa ordered a review of the situation. 

John Stegmann   June 2025

 

 

 

 

The branch line rail corridor between George and Knysna belongs to the SOE Transnet Freight Rail (TFR), who issued an invitation in 2023 to the public to submit proposals for repairing and reopening the line for freight and their Heritage Collection.

TFR is not obliged to consider proposals submitted after that closing date. It may, however, give attention to a late and unsolicited proposal that meets the prescribed conditions.

I submitted a proposal to TFR on 22 March 2024. TFR had not disclosed details of any legitimate proposal/s received nor had it formally ruled. As the door was not shut and, in the interests of the region and the country, I believed that TFR ought to consider allowing the corridor to be converted for use bt the public for non-motorised mobility.

The documents submitted are involved, but my reasoning was based on an article I wrote in 2016 for ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT magazine, Vol. 2016, No. 05, pages 4 & 5. A copy appeared in local media that can be viewed here: https://showme.co.za/knysna/lifestyle/rail-banking-for-abandoned-railways/

TFR are expected to respond in April.

Thank you for helping !

John Stegmann  3 April 2024

The Garden Trail

2,500 supporters in a month !  Many thanks to every one, and particularly for your comments. We hope to complete our proposal this week. When you receive this update, please see if you can get another person to support it. 5,000 supporters would be such a powerful endorsement at this time.

 John Stegmann  16 March 2024

The incredibly scenic 67 kilometre rail corridor between George and Knysna could be transformed into South Africa’s first rail to trail cycleway. An awesome car free route for recreation, commuting and touring!

All South Africans will benefit enormously as its’ safe and healthy credentials will directly help those who use it regularly while everyone else will benefit from the ecotourism it will attract on a global scale.

By demonstrating overwhelming support for this project we will encourage a variety of local economic ventures to further justify the need for such facilities. 

We need to act NOW, before this Garden Trail opportunity is lost ! 

To show your support please sign this petition now! 

Together we will demonstrate the overwhelming support for this initiative. 

For information about the proposal and to offer additional support please get in touch

thegreenmachine@bushtops.net

John Stegmann 

Cofounder of the Pedal Power Association and the Cape Town Cycle Tour

Author of

THE GREEN MACHINE 

ISBN 978-0-7961-0630-8   2024

Describes the origin of the PPA and CTCT